states2dot

This script handles state diagrams.

Table of Contents

• Elements
  • Note
  • State
  • Initial pseudostate
  • Final state
  • Transition
  • Synchronization bar
  • Dynamic Choice Point
  • Synch State
  • Decision
• Unsupported notation

Elements

The following elements are supported.

Note

Notes can appear in state diagrams as well as in class diagrams. See classes2dot documentation.

State

{label @id
--
internal transition @id
…

--
    compartment name
internal transition @id
    continuation line
…}

A state may have zero or more compartments (in addition to the name compartment, which is always present). Compartments are separated by -- on a separate line. Each compartment may have a compartment name, specified by an indented line immediately following the separator. The remaining lines of a compartment specify the state’s internal transitions.

An internal transition may be specified on one or more lines. Only the first line is considered when looking for the @id and name. If an @id is not specifed explicitly, the name is extracted by taking the first word, delimited by whitespace or any of : ( ) « » < > { } [ ] /.

Indented lines are considered to be continuation lines. The indentation is preserved. Note that Graphviz will preserve spaces but skip tabs.

Initial pseudostate

(#) label @id

The label may be empty. If no explicit ID is specified, a sequential ID will be autoassigned.

Final state

((#)) label @id

The label may be empty. If no explicit ID is specified, a sequential ID will be autoassigned.

Transition

state [guard] ---> [label] state

The guard condition and label are optional. The arrow must contain two or more of hyphen characters; there is no upper limit.

Synchronization bar

--|== @id {
branches
}

The fork icon --|== can alternatively be written as a join ==|--; this does not affect semantics which is determined solely by the number of incoming and outgoing branches.

If no explicit ID is specified, a sequential ID will be autoassigned.

Within the braces, each line specifies a branch of the transition. An incoming branch is specified like this:

state ---> |

An outgoing branch:

| ---> state

Arrows must contain two or more hyphen characters.

Dynamic Choice Point

() label @id

The label may be empty. If no explicit ID is specified, a sequential ID will be autoassigned.

Synch State

(label @id)

The label may be empty. If no explicit ID is specified, a sequential ID will be autoassigned.

Decision

<> label @id

The label may be empty. If no explicit ID is specified, a sequential ID will be autoassigned.

Unsupported notation

• States are rendered as rectangles, without rounded corners.
• Composite states, including concurrent lanes, since Graphviz graphs cannot be nested.
• Action states, which should be rendered as rectangles with semicircles on the sides, are not supported.